 |
|
| CURRENT SECTION :: TechZone |
The No. 1 Resource for UK IT Contractors: Comprehensive guides - Daily news IT contract jobs - Market rates - Forums - IT contractor network - Calculators |
|
 |
A new entrepreneurs’ school backed by Google and NASA will bring together creative talents to help address no less a task than “humanity’s greatest challenges.” It will hopefully turn out “future leaders” of growing technologies who can see five to ten years down the line to crack problems like poverty, famine and climate change. Singularity University, an ambitious-sounding yet unaccredited institution, last week committed to opening its doors in June, when the first students will enter its Silicon Valley campus. They will study ten key fields at SU including entrepreneurship, ethics; human enhancement, biotechnology, energy, space, computing, robotics and artificial intelligence. The students, already hailed as the world’s “smartest and most passionate future leaders”, will be given the tools and an unrivalled network “to fill a critical need.” “The challenges facing our planet are profound,” said Dr. Vint Cerf, vice president and chief internet evangelist at Google. “Creating a network of future world leaders across the range of exponentially growing technologies…will have profound implications. We need the best hearts and minds working together toward a common cause.” Salim Ismail, SU’s executive director, said courses should “provide students with a solid understanding of what is possible today, as well as an understanding of where the real opportunities exist for innovation”. He was reflecting on the appointment of SU’s chancellor – Ray Kurzweil, a former computer scientist known for his bold predictions, partly evidenced by his plan to live forever. “We are now in the steep part of the exponential trajectory of information technologies in a broad variety of fields, including health, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence,” Mr Kurzweil said. “It is only these accelerating technologies that have the scale to address the major challenges of humanity ranging from energy and the environment, to disease and poverty.” Although entry requirements remain under wraps, they are unlikely to be standard by any stretch of the most creative imagination, given just 30 students are reportedly expected to make the grade for the first class. Feb 9, 2009 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All content © Contractor UK Limited | [Archive] | [Register for News Letter] | [Privacy Statement] | [Terms of Use] | [Top of Page] |